About us
Liz Baynes Clarke, Co-Founder
I spent more than 20 years in medicine, working in General Practice and adolescent mental health, as well as serving as a doctor in the British Army, including on operational deployments.
Those roles were very different, but much of the work came back to the same thing: understanding what is really going on when people are under pressure. Often the presenting problem was only part of the story. Family relationships, expectations, communication and the wider circumstances around someone could make an enormous difference to how they coped.
My work in CAMHS brought that particularly close to home. Working with young people and their families showed me how much can change when we look beyond the individual and understand the relationships and environment around them.
I'm also a mum of three teenagers, so I know that family life rarely behaves like the textbook. Parenting has given me a rather different perspective on many of the things I encountered professionally, and a healthy respect for the gap between knowing the theory and living it.
North Star brings those experiences together. I now work with parents, young people and organisations to understand pressure earlier, strengthen relationships and build the foundations that help people cope well when life throws us the inevitable challenges.
Katie Fraser, Co-Founder
I’m an Oxford-educated journalist, writer and advice columnist, with more than 20 years’ experience of listening to people and helping them navigate some of life’s most difficult moments. I am also a qualified Coach and Mentor, with a lifelong love of languages, words and music.
As the Advice Columnist for Take a Break, Britain’s best-selling women’s weekly magazine, I specialize in relationship and family issues. My work has taught me the value of really listening – knowing when to ask a difficult question, when to offer a different perspective and when to give someone the space to work things out independently.
I’m a mother of four, so I bring a personal understanding of the transitions and challenges that go hand-in-hand with family life. I have watched these change over the years as my children have grown, becoming less physically draining but ever more nuanced and complex. I know that sometimes what makes the greatest difference is not having all the answers but knowing where to look for advice and – crucially – trusting in its provenance. My approach to our practice is simple: very little is insurmountable when we have the right support and the right – trusted – supporters on our side.
Outside work, I can be found navigating the tangled footpaths of the Essex countryside in all weathers, accompanied by two dogs and usually a good friend. In walking, as in life, finding your way forward starts simply with putting one foot in front of the other – and having someone by your side.
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